Monday, November 17, 2008

The Dallas Cowboys rescued themselves from complete ignominy last night by grinding out a 14-10 win against the Redskins in Washington. They were very iffy at the outset of the game, spending about 1 1/2 quarters just trying to shake off the rust. The Cowboys of the second half looked more like the team we saw early this season, with the defense, thanks to a solid pass rush and the stellar play from Terrance Newman, preventing the Redkins from getting more than a field goal after an initial score. The entire team, Romo included, appeared to gain confidence as the game went on, and a Terrance Newman swat that ended the Redkins drive in the 4th, followed by clock-eating runs from Marion Barber and a solid 4th down conversion to deny the Redkins the ball, ended the game in convincing fashion. There was much speculation in advance of this game that this win would put the Cowboys back on track to a post-season appearance. I prefer to exercise a little caution though; I strongly protest any assumptions that the Cowboys will easily handle San Francisco or Seattle at home in the next two weeks, given the ridiculous performance against St. Louis earlier this season. The Cowboys staved off what would virtually have been playoff elimination, but actually making the playoffs will require better performances than what we witnessed last night.